Conjoined Twins Find a Life Apart (page 4 of 6)

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Watch a video of Kendra and Maliyah enjoying life after separation.

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Photographed by Joanna B. Pinneo/Aurora

"Sometimes I miss being stuck to Kendra," says Maliyah (front). But it's fun to sleep in my own bed."

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Photographed by Joanna B. Pinneo/Aurora

"Because of what we've gone through with the girls, we're more optimistic about life," says Erin Herrin, here with husband Jake and their five children (from left): Justin, Kendra, Courtney, Austin, and Maliyah.

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Photographed by Joanna B. Pinneo/Aurora

Courtney reads to her sisters in the family's playroom, which has a ramp (left) for easy access and a slide (right) for fun.

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Photographed by Joanna B. Pinneo/Aurora

Courtney reads to her sisters in the family's playroom, which has a ramp (left) for easy access and a slide (right) for fun.

Before long, the twins discovered they could get around by scooting on their rear end. They learned to climb stairs, dress themselves, and jump on a trampoline. One day, at age three, Kendra called to Erin, "Look at us, Mom!" The girls had pulled themselves to a standing position—an achievement doctors had said would be impossible without surgery.

By then, the Herrins knew that having the twins had been the right decision. The couple had experienced a rocky patch after Courtney was born and had even lived apart for a few weeks. Now they were closer than they'd ever been. Says Jake: "We realized that Kendra and Maliyah had made us stronger."

As the girls' fourth birthday approached, their parents looked forward to the day when each could function on her own. But then came an event even more unlikely than having conjoined twins: Like one mother in seven million, Erin became pregnant with twins a second time. She couldn't give a kidney to Maliyah until she'd recovered from delivering Austin and Justin. (Others had offered to donate, but Erin was the best match.)

She and Jake began to have doubts about the surgery. Kendra and Maliyah were learning to use a walker. They got along so well that their condition sometimes seemed less a curse than a blessing. "I knew I'd miss bathing them together, tucking them in together," Erin says. "And they were happy. I thought they were perfect the way they were."

There was also the trauma of the separation to consider. Dr. Meyers assured the couple that their daughters were strong enough to survive the initial surgery. Afterward, however, Maliyah would have to be on dialysis for months before she recovered enough to receive her mother's kidney. More operations would be needed to reconstruct the twins' bodies. Artificial legs could help restore their mobility, but because the girls would not have an upper leg bone, to which a standard prosthesis is typically attached, the only devices available were crude and cumbersome. Was it really fair—or necessary—to put them through all of this?

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